“Call me not Masago. I do not like the name.”
“But—”
“No, no. It is quite well that others—say my honorable parents and brothers—should call me so, but it sounds unkindly from your lips, dear Junzo. Indeed, I—I hardly can express my feelings. I—I—”
She broke off at the expression of bewilderment upon his face. Nervously she entangled her fingers.
“Call me what you will. Let it be Masago, if the name pleases you. There! my foolish mood is past. I am your gentle girl once more.”
“I will not call you by your name,” he said, smiling whimsically, “since you do not like it. In a little while I’ll have another, sweeter name for you—wife!”
CHAPTER XXIV
A ROYAL PROCLAMATION